Unlocking the Chop Chord Part 1: Learning the Shapes

Here's Part 1 in a series all about bluegrass chop chords! This video talks about how to find these shapes and how to make them a little easier to manage.
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[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Thanks for watching! Let me know what other aspects of the Chop Chord you'd like for me to look at in future videos for this series! Would love to hear from you guys!

[@ambulanceblues83]

I’d love to see some kind of rendition of Wayfaring Stranger using Jack White’s arrangement from Cold Mountain or instructional Video to help figure it out. But I’m happy with what you’re doing and thank you much for your time. Helps with the darkest depressions I have. Playing and listening to music 🎶

[@iscovidoveryet7828]

Sub'd now. When I broke my wrist in '95, I thought my playing days were over forever. I still can't twist my wrist to play fiddle anymore, but thankfully, I've got my Mando. I first picked up one up in '89/90, and haven't grown past D C or G, but something Sam Bush said to Tony Rice (RIP) onstage once, that I carried with me these past 25 yrs. He said, "It's a Mandolin, you don't need no Fuckin' Chords". lol As true as that may be, ... Like Guitar, Ya still, at the very least, need to know your Majors and Minors. I've never been much of a "paper" learner, but more an eyes and ears kind of student. And that's where I'm at now. Learning the shapes. Thanks again for helping me out.

[@blackmilkalicious]

I started laughing when you mentioned TV practice! I spent my entire childhood playing piano while watching TV. Eventually went to a conservatory and became a professional pianist in NYC. TV practice is the best!

[@PilatesbyKelley]

Thank you ! Excellent teacher.

[@Ira88881]

For new players like me, long-time guitar player…I saw another great tip for speeding up your chop muscle memory and getting used to the stretch: Do the position a lot on the way higher frets where the fret widths are narrower, less stretch, and work your way down to the 1st fret where it’s the longest stretch.

[@reviewererforever]

Good video, thanks. I was just watching Mike Marshall's video on the chop and he inadvertently showed me a trick that neither of you mention. To get your pinky to stretch to that 7th fret, move your elbow down and out to give your hand a better angle

[@samael71ful]

Thank you! Being an oldish guy just starting out this was a big help to me.😁

[@AikiSys]

Great lesson Dave - thanks very much 🙏🏿

[@kacywilliams1]

Excellet tutorial. Thanks for posting!

[@justinmasonbn]

Great job man, love these videos you make.

[@reckonimokie123]

Excellent info. Thank you.

[@kayakbrent]

Thank you so much! Im going to chew on this lesson for awhile. Great approach!

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

My pleasure, Brent! Enjoy!

[@patrickbly4170]

You are the Quintessential fun teacher... greatly enjoyed your presentational style and Content. THANKS for your time and good energy ✨

[@JJohnsonfan15]

Freakin gold mine of info here....THANK YOU!

[@amonson929]

Thank you! Just bought a mandolin, coming over from guitar, and this was exactly what I needed to see. Great clear explanation!

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Glad it helped!

[@sarahfinni7596]

such a great tutorial, so clear. Went to my first bluegrass jam with all open chords :P - thank you for your help!!

[@user-ei6so8cb9m]

Fast, accurate, powerful presentation, to watch again and again, watch and pause again and again, like the muscle memory practice. Ideal video. I play by ear, but this starts knowing the notes on the fret board. Invaluable in jamming with folks that know music, once you got it. Superb and a major advance for me. Subscribed.

[@michaelangell1542]

This blew my mind! Clearly presented and very intuitive !! Thanks !!!

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

You're very welcome!

[@K2ThaPhukkinC]

These videos are great, I’m glad I came across your channel. Fantastic instruction, and you really take a lot into consideration.

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Ah so glad this video was helpful!

[@richardstrahin6142]

Good teaching!!

[@kevinthompsonmusic1435]

Dude what?? This video is fantastic. Thank you so much. Awesome job subscribed!

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Thanks for the sub!

[@nerenahd]

This channel is amazing.

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Thanks so much!

[@wiltonmungo4179]

Very helpful. I almost quit after the first week because I couldn't make that G-chop shape

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Glad it helped!

[@JCHaywire]

I'm fortunate to have studied with Inoue Tarou (son of Bluegrass 45 Banjoist--he has a photo of himself sitting on Bill Monroe's lap!?) and he showed me two-finger chop chords. Just the bottom two strings for minor, major and seventh forms. Nice chunky thwacks that sit nicely in that space left by the bass. Incidentally, my wife and I were walking down the road, away from the Hakone BGF--and Mr. Inoue pulled over and gave us a lift! Anyway, yeah--two string chop chords.

[@jonmullins8460]

someone taught me an exercise similar to the one at 7:35 that he called "knee to G". Basically, while doing something else like watching TV, repeatedly move your hand from your knee to the G chord shape and position. adapt for other chord shapes

[@reckonimokie123]

Good lesson. Thx

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Glad you liked it!

[@allenronaldson4381]

This ties in well with the double stop lesson!

[@allenronaldson4381]

For me the chop grip is like the power chord for rock guitar players and the double stop shapes are like the “ blues box.” I’m not sure who the first teacher I can remember that prescribed practicing while watching TV was, but it’s a classic. It’s also prescribed for golfers that need help with their grip because they’re so personal and very difficult to change for guys that ha e been playing for a while.

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Yeah! So true! More on all that in lessons to come

[@merlisenagomez5738]

Thank you 👌🏽👌🏽

[@gregerlach]

I have just discovered your channel David. Excellent, I have improved already. Thanks for the tips. I will subscribe. Great teacher. Greetings from England. Del.

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

🙏🙏🙏

[@iscovidoveryet7828]

Dito.!! Same as what he said Dave. Except for being from the UK though...

[@ambulanceblues83]

I’m basically a beginner. I know open chords but not scales nor mastered the strum patterns like I can play on the guitar. Looking forward to watching more. Listening to The Foreign Landers EP. IT’s FANTASTIC!

[@iscovidoveryet7828]

Soak up ALL the Sam Bush you can.

[@markoshun]

If I was ordering a hand for playing mandolin on Amazon, yours is what I’d order. 😎 Your fingers are longer than mine and my pinky is 1 1/4” shorter than my ring finger. Hand at 45 degrees just makes effect worse. It’s not that I can’t do the shape, but the 7th fret is the last place without my pinky being pulled down to mute the D string. And I’m a decent guitar player, use my pinky all the time. If it’s just not possible because of my design, I’ll accept that and move on. I’ve yet to see anyone with similar hands demonstrate a Monroe chop chord.

[@cferdinandi]

"I know it's a bit of a stretch..." I see what you did there!

[@ewangibsonmusic]

Thank you.

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

You're welcome!

[@louisdutoya857]

Just discover your channel, your videos are so great! Can you submit you some ideas for tutorials?

[@iangray7410]

Oooh ! An Apitius ! Great lesson despite that burden. Our Apitius is currently in the hands of a well-known Canadian fiddler who plays in my wife's band. I believe the mando came through Gruhn's from Adam Steffey. Whatever, yours sure sounds great and what a comprehensive lesson. Well done, David. BTW, my wife is Claire Lynch.

[@iscovidoveryet7828]

I've got a 35 yr old Samick, same shape, beautiful tones. Any Label on the headstock is less important than the wood and Craftsmanship that was built into one.

[@louismonnichii7619]

This is pretty awesome! I'm just starting to properly learn, but the only challenge that I have is that my middle fingertip was cut off a long time ago. So, I lost about three quarters of an inch of finger. So the stretch is kind of a challenge for me

[@iscovidoveryet7828]

Where there's a will there's a way. I broke my wrist in a fall back in '95, losing 1/2 a lifetimes worth of effort and hard work in the process. I got angry, turned to the bottle, and my back on Music for almost a Decade. That was, until I moved from Toronto to a small town chock full of Musicians at the bottom of Lake Simcoe, that, given the crazy amount of Talent that chooses to live here, SHOULD BE something of a 'Muscle Shoals North'. It's Almost Criminal that it ain't.! The point is.... Don't give up trying. Adapt.! Best wishes, and the best words of advice for you is, find a way to keep your love alive. P.S. An Uncle of mine, lost fingertips 1,2&3 on his left hand, in an accident with a Press, so he put the strings down, and turned to piano. That's what I call determination.!

[@steveg1xb]

Enjoyed the explanation. Now I just need to get strings sounding cleanly and pinky stretchingggggggggg

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

You can do it!

[@BoywithMando]

Can you play an Indian classical musical piece or 'raga' ?

[@pmscalisi]

Lol I’ve got the sausage fingers. I play the bass/ guitar in my group but I’m trying to get expand my instruments . The four finger chords kill my hand. I hope that the hand placement will work better. Thanks for your video.

[@daveylocker8]

I took off the inner G string, and put a pipe cleaner mute at third fret of the G string left. Then there is no pinky for chops. I use it for everything this way. So many of the chords are sooo much easier, and seldom do you ever need to go below 4th fret G for harmony playing on any style song I’ve learned. What do you think about this David? It’s like a double course Russian Domra with a low B srtring only when you need it. Make your coils tight, about 3/4” total, slide up to 3rd fret, then twist ends together, clip excess and fold over.

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Hey David! Thanks so much for watching! I'd definitely recommend using the pinkie for these shapes, or using other shapes that you can use without having to take strings off the instrument or putting mutes on certain frets. Changing the nature or intonation of the instrument as a default will definitely hold you back in the long run from being to play both chords and lead later on. But there are easier shapes to play other than the chop shapes if you're interested--did you see this other video released on the channel recently?kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpevaqdrYrp8nas

[@catherinejaneyork4460]

Good Lord. I thought I had quite decent stretching abilities but I feel no wayyy will I ever be able to do this!

[@markthistlewood]

Superb tips here (I’m a professional musician)

[@StitchGV]

I love how everyone keeps saying the size of my fingers shouldn’t matter, meanwhile I would literally need to DOUBLE the length of my pinky to reach the G string in that position. 🙄🤣🤣🤣

[@Terribleguitarist89]

Coming from a guitar background, it reminds me of a blown out C shape.

[@iscovidoveryet7828]

Me too, came from guitar... The hardest part for me, was to "Reverse" my thinking on the Chord structures. It's all backwards, and you're missing two strings to boot.?

[@stevenacord7642]

👍

[@gypsyfire032011]

There are only two kinds of people in this world - Those that can play the Gm chop chord and those that can't. Unfortunately, I think I may be in the 2nd group. However, I do believe there is hope for me to learn the G (not minor) chop chord. Hmm, it occurs to me that when you're playing the C chop chord, you're muting the 1st string. Wouldn't it make sense to play the G chop chord using three strings and just muting the 1st string? Much easier and you've still got the root, 3rd, and 5th of the chord.

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Yeah, that's what Sierra Hull does--you're in good company!

[@gypsyfire032011]

if it's good enough for Sierra Hull, it's good enough for me.@@DavidBenedictMandolin

[@CerealKiller1973]

Doesn’t have the same punch. I did what he said about TV practicing & I EVENTUALLY got it. It’s a stretch but it’s doable. I have medium sized hands, it’s a stretch

[@scottross81]

Yuck chop chords!!! Lol 😂 ♥️

[@joeprine1543]

One thing that's never mentioned is thumb placement.

[@healingenso7923]

Q. What do you call a guy who hangs out with 3 musicians ? A. The Drummer ! Does that apply to playing chop :)

[@stephenbrayfield4135]

Yeah, easy for Mr monkey fingers here 😂

[@reckonimokie123]

Your fingers are long. Mine ain’t

[@DavidBenedictMandolin]

Yeah, this shape is tough! Keep up the hard work tho!

[@Road_Rash]

I hate finger crippling chop chords & will never learn them... I don't play bluegrass on anything but a stereo, so I don't need them for my mandolin playing... I only play rock n roll & country... neither requires the chop...let the drummer keep time...